The European Union has faced pressure to suspend the visa-free travel arrangement that allows US citizens to enter the EU without needing a visa. However, the EU Court of Justice has ruled

against this move, asserting that the European Commission has the discretion to decide on such matters.

The EU maintains a list of countries whose citizens can visit the EU and Schengen area for up to 90 days within a 180-day period without a visa. This list includes the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, primarily based on reciprocity, as EU citizens are not required to obtain visas for these countries.

US citizens have benefited from this arrangement, allowing them to travel to the EU and Schengen area, which includes Switzerland and Norway, without a visa. However, not all EU nationalities have received the same treatment when traveling to the United States.

According to EU regulations, if a non-EU country imposes a visa requirement on citizens of one or more EU member states, the European Commission can propose suspending the visa exemption for nationals of that country. In 2014, the EU raised concerns with the US regarding visa waiver reciprocity for Bulgarian, Croatian, Cypriot, and Romanian citizens (Poland was also affected at the time, but its citizens gained visa-free access to the US in 2019).

EU legislation stipulates that if a third country does not lift the visa requirement within 24 months, the Commission can propose a legal act to suspend the visa exemption for its nationals for 12 months.

Since the US did not change its approach, the European Parliament called on the Commission in 2017 and 2020 to reintroduce the visa requirement for US citizens, potentially requiring American tourists to obtain visas before traveling to Europe.

The Commission, however, refused, citing the close EU-US relations and the significant economic impact that such a suspension would have.

In terms of tourism arrivals and spending, the US is the most lucrative market for the EU, with American visitors spending millions of nights in EU countries. France, Italy, and Germany are the top EU destinations for US tourists.

In 2016, US tourists made 27 million trips to Europe. Consequently, the European Parliament took the Commission to the EU Court of Justice.

In its recent judgment, the Court ruled that the Commission had the political discretion to decide whether to suspend the visa exemption and that it was not obligated to do so solely due to a lack of reciprocity.

The Court emphasized that the Commission must consider various factors, including the economic importance of US tourists and the impact on different policy areas. Consequently, the Court dismissed the Parliament's action, stating that the Commission had not exceeded its discretion.

While the EU Court of Justice's ruling means that the visa exemption for US citizens remains in place, visitors from non-EU countries, including the US, will be required to pay for a visa waiver through the planned ETIAS scheme to visit EU and Schengen area countries in the future. This system will be similar to the ESTA scheme that EU citizens already use to visit the United States.